In addition to the crystalline powers of stones, stones absorb
the powers of their colors as well.
RED: Red is the sacred, protecting home. Red relates to
Mars and fire. An aggressive energy. Promotes courage.
Banishes negative emotions and anger. Relieves anemia, heals wounds,
rashes and inflammation, prevents miscarriages. Red overcomes sexual
dysfunction. Controls self-destructive tendencies. Ruby, red jasper,
red agate, rhodonite, red tourmaline, garnet, coral, poppy jasper.
PINK: Pink is packed with loving vibrations. Calms,
soothes, de-stresses and relaxes both body and mind. Ruled by Venus.
Attracts or strengthens love. Smoothes relationship difficulties.
Promotes self-love, peace, happiness, joy, laughter. Attracts
friends. Encourages openness to others. Enhances group prayer.
Enhances family. Pink tourmaline, rose quartz, pink calcite,
rhodochrosite, kunzite, thulite, pink lace, coral.
ORANGE: Protects the wearer while s/he is exploring self and
ideas. A part of the Sun. Enhances personal power and ability to
direct and focus. Expands self-worth. Attracts luck and success.
Enhances individual prayer. Carnelian, amber, citrine, tigereye,
pyrite, coral.
YELLOW: Ruled by Mercury, the Sun and air, yellow is a color of
movement and mental awareness. Enhances communication. Strengthens the
conscious mind. Heightens visualization abilities. Useful to carry
when traveling. Promotes digestion, regulates nervous system, aids skin
problems. Yellow tourmaline, rutilated quartz, topaz, yellow fluorite,
yellow jasper, leopard skin jasper.
GREEN: Associated with Earth and Venus, fertility, life.
Green heals the sick and guards against illness. Strengthens
eyesight, controls kidneys, relieves stomach problems, prevents migraines,
improves fertility. Used during gardening to promote luxuriant growth.
Green also promotes luck, success, wealth. Jade, peridot, olivine,
aventurine, emerald, green tourmaline, fancy jasper, bloodstone, unakite, moss
agate, malachite.
BLUE: Ruled by Neptune and water, blue promotes peace, calm,
sleep. Reduces fevers, removes ulcers, eliminates inflammations.
Purifies inner being. Celestite, larvakite, lapis, turquoise,
aquamarine, sodalite, blue quartz, blue tourmaline, sapphire, peacock copper,
blue lace
PURPLE: Spiritual. Ruled by Jupiter and Neptune.
Associated with mysticism and purification. Wear during meditation,
prayer. Worn to maintain health, relieve headaches, mental illness, hair
problems. Relieves depression. Worn to contact higher forces.
Sugilite, lepidolite, amethyst, purple fluorite.
WHITE or CLEAR: Ruled by Moon. Promotes good fortune.
Protects after dark or when in hazardous places. Eases headaches.
Clear or white stones can substitute for stones of any other color.
Quartz, moonstone, calcite, white opal, coral, pearl, howlite.
BLACK: Represents Earth and Saturn. Promotes stability,
strength, self-control, resilience and quiet power. Black hides your
thoughts, motives, and behaviors from others. Onyx, black agate, black
opal, coral, obsidian, hematite.
For more information, please read Cunningham,
Scott. Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic.
St.Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1994.
The pentagram stone tarot involves a particular layout of
stones. You start with a bag of the stones listed below.
Have the person visually inspect all stones, and then select 5 of them.
The stones are laid out to form a rough pentagram (five-sided) figure,
with one point upward. Place the first stone on the upper right
point. This represents the emotions involved in the problem -- yours or
those of others. Place the second stone on the lower right point.
This represents conflict, binding and illusions which you may not be aware
of. It can also represent the obstacles to be faced. Place the
third stone on the lower left-hand point. It represents the
foundation of the problem, the basis for its existence, the forces at work
behind it. Place the fourth stone on the upper left-hand point.
This stone symbolizes your thoughts on the subject at the current time.
These thoughts may hinder or help you. Place the fifth stone
on the top point. This signifies the final outcome.
0. THE FOOL - AGATE: Scattered energies, extravagance, waste,
"head in the clouds", imbalance, pride, ego, hubris, vanity
1. THE SHAMAN - QUARTZ: magical attainment, control, power,
balance, center, unification of spiritual and physical, self-knowledge, depth,
confidence
2. THE HIGH PRIESTESS - EMERALD or PEARL: Spirituality, secrets,
power. Earth religion, the unknown, female mysteries
3. THE GODDESS - PERIDOT or TURQUOISE: Receptive energy, women,
cycles, fertility, creativity, abundance, growth, love, female sexuality, money,
mother
4. THE GOD - GARNET: Projective energy, men, compassion, force,
movement, aggression, male sexuality, father
5. THE CHIEF - CITRINE: Authority, captivity, confinement,
abandonment, advice, employer, honor, technology
6. THE OVERS - ROSE QUARTZ: Love, sexuality, relationships,
friendship, duality, polarity, symbiosis, balance, beauty, family
7. THE ELEMENTS - ANY TWINNED CRYSTAL: Earth power, nature,
self-control, triumph, success
8. STRENGTH - TOURMALINE: Power, courage, will power, activity
9. THE WISE ELDER - SAPPHIRE or IOLITE: Wisdom, knowledge,
mysticism, enlightenment
10. THE SPIRAL - OPAL: Transformation, fortune, luck, exterior
energies, unknown factors
11. JUSTICE - CARNELIAN: Law, legal matters, dominance,
submission, outside authority
12. INITIATION - AQUAMARINE: Introspection, trials, tests,
sacrifice
13. CHANGE - AMBER: Renewal, beginnings, endings, health
matters, trials
14. TEMPERANCE - AMETHYST: moderation, scattering of energies,
nonfocused, closed, disciplined, balance
15. FOLLY - BLACK ONYX, ANY SQUARE BLACK STONE: addiction,
delusion, pity, depression, violence, pettiness, lack of vision, control by
others, submission
16. FORCE - LAVA or GEODE: adversity, accident, challenge,
oppression
17. THE STAR - METEORITE or ANY STAR-SHAPED STONE: universal
energies, astrology, eclipse, travel, hope
18. THE MOON - MOONSTONE or CHALCEDONY: psychism, emotions,
depression, night, winter, sleep, dreams, tides, magnetism, water
19. THE SUN - TIGER EYE or SUNSTONE: mental activity,
overintellectualism, thought, visualization, contentment, employment, day,
summer, the seasons
20. REBIRTH - FOSSIL: reversal, outcome, evolution, growth,
life, childbirth, lessons
21. THE UNIVERSE - AZURITE or LAPIS or MALACHITE: Interplay,
success, movement, harvest, overview, ability, completion, higher forces
For more information, please read Cunningham, Scott.
Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic.
St.Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1994.
Mosaic bead work developed around 1000 B.C. The bead maker
twists a piece of copper wire in the left hand and a glass rod in the right in
front of a small furnace. When the glass reaches the right point, he takes
the rod to one side, leaving the molten base bead on the copper wire. With
tweezers, he picks up slices of mosaic glass cane and places them onto the
molten bead. He continues turning the bead in front of the heat and the
cane melt and fuse together. Taking the bead away from the heat, he places
it in a round mold where it is pressed to give its final shape. The
pressed bead is left in a cooling oven for 24 hours, then immersed in an acid
bath to free the wire and give a good edge to the hole.
Wedding Anniversary Stones
| 1st - Peridot
|
16th - Red Spinel
|
| 2nd - Red Garnet
|
17th - Carnelian
|
| 3rd - Jade
|
18th - Aquamarine
|
| 4th - Blue Zircon
|
19th - Garnet
|
| 5th - Pink Tourmaline
|
20th - Yellow Diamond
|
| 6th - Turquoise
|
25th - Tsavorite
|
| 7th - Yellow Sapphire
|
30th - Pearl
|
| 8th - Tanzanite
|
35th - Emerald
|
| 9th - Amethyst
|
40th - Ruby
|
| 10th - Blue Sapphire
|
45th - Cat's Eye
|
| 11th - Citrine
|
50th - Imperial Topaz
|
| 12th - Opal
|
60th - Star Ruby
|
| 13th - Moonstone
|
65th - Blue Spinel
|
| 14th - Agate
|
70th - Smoky Quartz
|
| 15th - Rhodolite
|
75th - Diamond
|
BEADS PER INCH
| Bead Size
|
# Beads Per Inch
|
| 2mm
|
12.50
|
| 3mm
|
8.25
|
| 4mm
|
6.25
|
| 5mm
|
5.00
|
| 6mm
|
4.25
|
| 7mm
|
3.50
|
| 8mm
|
3.25
|
| 10mm
|
2.50
|
| 12mm
|
2.00
|
| 14mm
|
1.75
|
| 16mm
|
1.25
|
| 18mm
|
1.23
|
| 20mm
|
1.20
|
Typical Lengths
- Bracelets
-
- Ladies, 7 - 7 1/2 " including clasp
- >Mens, 8 - 8 1/2" including clasp
- Anklets
- Ladies, 9 - 9 1/2" including clasp
- >Mens, 9 1/2 - 10" including clasp
- Chokers
- Ladies, tightfit, 15 1/2 - 16" including clasp
- > Ladies, loose-fit, 17 - 17 1/2" including clasp
- Mens, tightfit, 16 1/2 - 17" including clasp
- >Mens, loose-fit, 18 - 18 1/2" including clasp
- Necklaces
- Hangs above breastplate - 22- 24"
- > Hangs at breastplate - 24-26"
- Hangs just below breastplate - 30"
- >Hangs above navel - 36"
One of the greatest thrills of all time is when someone pays real
money for something you have designed and created. The first question
pops up: Can I make some serious money making jewelry?
Why not? With smart planning, strategizing and marketing, you should
even be able to make a living from your creative impulses.
Some advice:
- First, buy your "parts" cheaply.
Limit your inventory at first. Buy a "few" parts in large quantities.
The more expensive your parts, the harder it will be to mark up your finished
product in order to make a profit.
If you try to design your business so that you can meet every contingency --
that is, respond to every request or market niche -- you'll end up buying a lot
of different "parts" to have breadth, rather than depth, of inventory.
This will cost you. Each part will have to be bought in smaller
quantities, and thus will be more expensive.
If, instead, you concentrate on replicating a limited number of designs,
(perhaps varying certain design-features rather than coming up with completely
new and different designs), you'll be able to buy parts in larger quantities,
making them less expensive.
[As your business develops and matures, your goals will change, and you will
seek greater breadth -- but this is a subject for another article.]
- Second, know your market.
Who are your customers?
What will your customers be willing to pay, say, for a pair of earrings?
What will it cost you to link up to your target market? - travel, displays,
packaging, timing
You don't want to make a $100.00 beaded watch band if your most
likely market customer will only be willing to pay $20.00 for it.
Check out similar merchandise in stores, flea markets and other places that
sell jewelry like yours, and that target customers like the ones you want to
target.
- Third, mark up and price your products so that you will make a sufficient
profit.
Sufficiency means that (a) you can buy replacement parts, (b) you can
pay your overhead costs, (c) you can pay yourself, and (d) you can reinvest
5-10% of your earnings back into your business, such as expanding your
inventory, or buying display fixtures and the like.
Remember, it's always easier to lower a price, than raise a price.
Customers smile at lower prices, but frown on raised prices.
Assume your "overhead" costs equal an additional 25% of the total parts plus
labor costs of your product. Thus,
TOTAL COST = Cost of All Parts + Overhead + Labor
It's always difficult to recoup your labor, that is, the amount of
time you put into making a product. You usually have to discount your
labor. Thus,
TOTAL MINIMUM COST = Cost of All Parts + Overhead + (Labor * 0.0)
TOTAL MAXIMUM COST = (Cost of All Parts + Overhead) * (1.5)
(1.5 is a labor cost adjustment factor)
If your parts cost $10.00, and your labor $2.00, your overhead would
cost an additional $3.00. Your Minimum Total Cost (where you have charged
nothing for your labor) would then be $13.00. Your Maximum Total Cost
(where you have charged the maximum amount for your labor) would be $19.50.
Now you have to translate your "cost" into a "price".
You want to price your items at least 2 times your Total Cost, and preferably
2.5 to 3.0 times your Total Cost. Too many people underprice their
products.
Don't be afraid to adequately price your products. Jewelry is typically
marked up higher than other goods. There are many reasons for this.
The cost of getting and maintaining an inventory of parts is high; you
can't buy just 1 bead at a time as needed. Jewelry fashions change every
3-4 months, often radically, leaving you with some unsaleable stock.
In our example above, if your product cost:
$13.00 (Total Minimum Cost), it would be priced between $26.00 (2*cost) and
$39.00 (3*cost)
$19.50 (Total Maximum Cost), it would be priced between $39.00 (2*cost) and
$58.50 (3*cost)
Sit back and evaluate your situation. If you feel your target
market won't pay at least, in this example, $26.00 for the finished product, you
need to rethink. Either reduce your costs or redesign the product.
As always, Warren & James wish you the best success in your business.
If you have any questions, please email us.
